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Invisible Zipper Pillow Tutorial

May 16, 2013

Now that I’m working on my book, I won’t be working at the Stitch and Sew Studio as much during open sew hours; however, I will still be teaching classes there on the weekends. 🙂 During my time there (almost 7 months!), I’ve met some really great people and made some wonderful friends. They’ve learned sewing tips and tricks from me, but I think I’ve learned the most from them! Here’s a super easy and fun invisible zipper tutorial that I learned from Teresa and Meg. Thanks gals! 😉

Keep in mind that there are many different ways to do this, and this method is a very simplified and practical way to do it. If it works, then I’m all for bending the rules! It’s funner that way anyway. Enjoy!

Materials:

Fabric for the front and back of your pillow. the fabric will need to be 1 inch bigger than the pillow size. Example: To make a cover for a 21 x 21 inch pillow, you will need two 22 x 22 inch squares cut from your fabric.

Zipper – should be at least 2 inches shorter than the finished pillow length. Example: If you’re sewing a cover for a 21 x 21 inch pillow, get a 19 inch long zipper.

Optional: Lightweight interfacing such as Fusi-Bond Lite. Iron this stuff on any quilting cotton weight fabric to achieve a home decorating weight fabric. (It’s like an iron-on muslin).

1. Prepare both sides of fabric for the front and back of the pillow. In this tutorial I made a pillow cover for a 14″ pillow, so I cut two 15″ squares from my fabric. I also ironed on lightweight interfacing to make my cotton fabric more of a home dec weight.

2. Take your prepared fabric, and align them with right sides facing together. Pin to keep the layers from shifting. On one edge, mark 2 inches from the top and bottom as shown below.

3. Along this edge, sew a 1/2 inch seam allowance. When doing so, use a regular stitch within the 2 inch markers, and then use the longest stitch length in the center (this is where the zipper will be). Make sure to back-stitch at the start and end, as well as before you begin a new stitch length.

Click to Enlarge.

4. Press the seam open with an iron. Take your zipper and unzip it half way. You can use a thin strip of tape to help keep the unzipped part closed.

5. With the zipper facing down, align it on the center of the seam where your longer stitches are. You’ll have about 1/2-1 inch of the tail ends of your zipper hanging past the 2 inch marks. Tape to keep everything in place. You can place tape at the 2 inch marker to help give you a visual of where you need to sew.

Use a zipper foot and sew a rectangle around the zipper as designated by the dashes below. When you get to the tape, peel it back so you don’t sew over it. When the little zipper pully gets in your way, stop sewing with the needle in the down position, and then zip up the zipper so it’s out of your way, then continue sewing. Start and end your stitches with back stitches.

6. Here’s the satisfying part. 🙂 Flip the pillow cover right side up and use a seam ripper to tear open the long stitches you sewed from step 3. This will unveil your zipper.

7. Next, make sure the zipper is at least half way unzipped and then align your fabric once again with right sides facing together. Pin to keep the fabric from shifting. Sew a 1/2 inch seam allowance around the perimeter (as designated by the dashes below) except where the zipper is. clip the corners to get rid of extra fabric bulk.

7. Turn the pillow cover right side out through the zipper opening. Last but not least, make lots and lots of beautiful, cozy, bright and cheery pillows!

27 Responses to Invisible Zipper Pillow Tutorial

Saving this for future use. I make a lot of pillows and now I can make them with hidden zippers. So much more stylish than the envelope styles I make most. Thanks so much! Love the fabrics too! So retro.

This may not be a truly invisible zipper, but, it is a very easy tutorial and a practical solution to placing zippers in cushions.I always put zippers in my cushion covers and I very much like the way you have done yours. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks Jennifer! I enjoy figuring out how to simplify things because (in my opinion) when sewing becomes something where you have to always follow the rule book, it takes the fun away! If it works, then I'm all for breaking the rules 😉 Thanks for checking out the tutorial.

I have seen lots of good tutorials on this site. This is not one of them. Just plain old fashioned way of putting in a zipper without all that tape, temporarily stitching edges together & then having to undo all that mess. Sorry guys….this one stinks.

Man, this is the best pillow zip tutorial I've found! Thank you so much for sharing. I don't know what I would do ith out blogger like yourself that take the time to share with the rest of the online sewing community. I don't think y'all truly know how much you are appreciated….have a great day….blogger taught sewist

This is actually very similar to the way my home ec teacher taught us to put zippers in! It brings back happy memories and I love the concept of using it for a pillow edging. It's EXACTLY what I was hoping to find when I searched for a new zipper tutorial – innovative, easy and fun, with a beatiful tailored finish! Thanks so much!

I have done zippers this way for a very long time. Only I use scotch tape, it holds it in place just fine. This method is great it is not a true invisible. But great tutorial for someone learning. Then next is the placket zipper. LOL

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Hello!

My name is Jera Brandvig and I'm from the rainy city of Seattle. I am a quilter, author and fabric designer but first, I am a proud mother to two beautiful boys (& a furry little girl named Paige!). Click me to read more. Thank you for stopping by! ;)